The case for Dudley, the latent wizard

[Ali]

Also posted on the main list

My Dursley obsession continues...

JKR has told us that someone will find magic late in life. To date,
there appear to be only 4 people who could credibly find this gift.
They are Filch, Arabella Figg, Dudley and Petunia.

There are of course many Muggles mentioned in the Potterverse. It is
certainly possible that any one of these could develop or find
latent magical powers. But, whilst we can hypothesise that Aunt
Marge or Colonel Fubster might suddenly magically blow things up or
survive being thrown out of a window, so far, neither these two, or
any of the other characters have contributed much to the story.
Whilst finding that they are magical might make an enormous
difference to them, it would not appear to make a great deal of
difference to Harry.

What would change if Filch could do magic? Filch could be quite
dangerous. His squibness represents impotence to him. He hates the
students who can do what he can not. And yet, IMO he is now so
bitter, so thwarted, that I personally can not see the sudden
emergence of magic prowess adding much to his character. He would
continue to be unsavoury, warped and twisted.

Arabella Figg might suddenly find magical powers, and in doing so,
might save Harry's life. That would certainly add to the story. Yet,
even if this were to be the case, it would only be an extension of
her role to date. Arabella's role of protector to Harry might have
been hidden, but it was none-the-less there, and it was in fact her
quick thinking that saved Harry from expulsion after he had fought
off the Dementors at the beginning of OoP.

If Arabella hadn't been suspicious of Mundungus' reliability, then
she would not have stationed her cat as a secondary guard. She would
not have witnessed the attack and thus provided Harry with an
independent, if not wholly credible witness in his hearing. Nor,
would she have been able to advise Mundungus to contact Dumbledore
PDQ. If Dumbledore had not acted so swiftly, Harry would have been
expelled from Hogwarts, his wand would have been destroyed – or
Harry would have gone AWOL.

The impact on Harry if Petunia or Dudley were to access latent
magical powers, could be immense. Petunia has spent all of Harry's
life hating him for his magical ability and I suspect his potential
for destroying her mundane existence. If Petunia were to discover
that she had magical powers, she might have to reassess her whole
relationship with Harry and the world that he belongs to. But,
Petunia, like Filch is *so* bitter, so constrained and damaged by
her earlier life that it is not hard to imagine her continuing to
deny her magical ability. I cannot see her buying a beginners guide
to magic and learning how to use a wand. She might involuntarily act
to save Dudley, or maybe (in my dreams) Harry, but that I suspect is
all.

Now, Dudley finding he is a wizard is a different kettle of fish
altogether. I can almost see Petunia re-enacting the parable of the
wind and the sun. In the parable, the wind and sun have a
competition to see who can remove a traveller's cloak the quickest.
The wind tries to blow the cloak off. In fact, it blows so hard that
the traveller is nearly swept off his feet, but clutches the cloak
even tighter around him. The sun on the other hand shines down upon
the traveller, who feeling rather hot, removes the cloak himself.
The moral of the story being that you can *persuade* someone to do
what you want by friendly action, rather than forcing them to. Thus,
if Dudley ever showed signs of magical powers as a young child, he
was dissuaded from trying to repeat the experience, by being
indulged in every possible aspect of his existence. Harry on the
other hand is "squashed" in an attempt to make him "normal". The
attempt of course fails and Harry goes off to Hogwarts. Harry spent
his life knowing that he's not normal. Normal kids aren't kept in
cupboards and don't receive coat hangers as birthday presents. Harry
will revel in his magical ability as it has become a way to express
himself, something Petunia has always denied him.

If Dudley found himself with magical ability? I like to assume that
Dudley once did something "funny", and that it is Petunia's reaction
to this that represents his worst memory. He might be aware of
something strange, but just not feel the need to question it. Now,
however, the position has changed.

He is a teenager, and however indulged he is at home, he isn't
truthful to his parents, and by lying to them already shows the
potential to rebel. Power and potency is something that matters to
Dudley. He is a bully, he likes to control, he likes to win. He has
in the past shown a marked lack of self-control. I think if he were
now to realise that he possessed magic powers he would be unable to
resist the temptation of trying to use them. I think that the effect
on Petunia would be momentous.

It is not hard to assume that Petunia suffered terribly because of
her sister's magical ability. We know she felt inferior, we know she
lost her sister at a young age and we know that she got landed with
her nephew. What we can suggest is that she also lost her parents
because of Lily's magical involvement.

For Petunia to witness Dudley discovering that he is a wizard would
surely be one of her worst fears confirmed. I think that she would
do almost *anything* to stop Dudley entering the WW.

Now, I know people have questioned whether Dumbledore would prevent
any child with magical abilities form entering Hogwarts. I would
agree, that in normal circumstances, he wouldn't, but anything to do
with Harry is a special case. If, Dumbledore thought that the only
way he could keep Harry safe was to deny Dudley his place, then IMO,
he would have done so.

Think about what Dumbledore says:-

"What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and
creatures were slaughtered in a vague future, if in the here and
now, you were alive, and well, and happy" OoP UK edition p. 739.

Now, it could be argued that Dumbledore only feels like this after
he has got to know Harry, but if Harry's importance to him is such
that he could let others die, then he could certainly deprive Dudley
of a place at Hogwarts. This is particularly so knowing how anti-
wizards, Dudley's parents are. Yep, Dudley could be magical and
might not know - yet.

Ali